Sonoma Valley: Lavender Season

The summer in the Bay Area is something to behold. We have pleasant weather and there's plenty of places for the weekend warrior to recharge. This weekend, we trooped to the beautiful Sonoma Valley - the cousin of the famous Napa Valley - wine region to revisit Matanzas Creek Winery, which has a delightful lavender garden. We first visited it in 2013 and unfortunately we came in before the peak blooming time. This Saturday, however, the bushes were in full bloom. The people who came to see the field of lavender roughly equals the number of bees present.

The weather was in the low 80s, mild and simply beautiful. A lovely day to be outside. Like everybody else there, we took photos of the field, watched an artist paint, and have a picnic in one of the benches scattered all over the grounds. We toyed with the idea of sampling some wine - this is after all a winery - but the tasting room is packed and we'd rather sit on the benches and look out to the fields instead of waiting our turn. Besides, we came for the lavender and not wine tasting. Good thing you can do that here too, as the garden is open to the public. They even opened the overflow parking to accommodate everyone.

Keeping my fingers crossed I'd find another lovely spot to see this weekend.

OUR WORLD TUESDAY